Our HR team manages hundreds of leaves each year, with daily review of specific situations to ensure each leave is properly evaluated and managed. We also have multiple client discussions each week to talk about why an employees’ leave extension request has to be considered, why an employee’s new leave request might be required when they were already off an extended period of time, and other challenges.
We always appreciate the impact that leaves can have on our clients’ business, so understand the frustrations that these may sometimes cause. Our goal is to provide the guidance to meet the applicable laws and minimize liability, while considering possible options where feasible.
Since we get so many questions about leaves, we’ve prepared this Primer to provide an overview. While there is much more involved, this will help understand what our team is looking at when we manage leaves.
1. Leave Isn’t Governed by One Law — It’s Governed by Several, All at Once
When an employee needs time off for a medical condition, a new child, a family member’s illness, or a workplace injury, that single request can trigger several different laws simultaneously — federal, state, and sometimes local. These laws don’t take turns. They often apply at the same time, to the same leave, and each one comes with its own rules about eligibility, duration, pay, job protection, and required notices.
That overlap is normal. It’s also where employers most often run into trouble — not because they did something wrong on purpose, but because they treated one leave law as the whole picture when it was only one piece of it.
2. The Major Leave Laws at a Glance
This is a simplified overview for just California to build general awareness. It is not a complete list, and eligibility depends on details specific to each situation.
| Law | Covers | Typical Trigger | Key Feature |
| FMLA (Federal) | Serious health condition, new child, family caregiving | Employers with 50+ employees; eligible employees | Up to 12 weeks job-protected leave |
| CFRA (California) | Same categories as FMLA, plus some differences | Employers with 5+ employees in CA | Runs alongside or separately from FMLA depending on facts |
| Pregnancy Disability Leave (CA) | Pregnancy-related disability | Employers with 5+ employees in CA | Separate from, and can add to, CFRA bonding leave |
| ADA / FEHA | Disability accommodation | Employers with 5 (FEHA) or 15+ (ADA) employees | Requires an interactive process; may extend leave as an accommodation |
| Paid Family Leave (CA) | Wage replacement during family/bonding leave | Most CA employees via state disability insurance | Pays a portion of wages; does not by itself protect the job |
| Workers’ Compensation | Workplace injury or illness | Nearly all CA employers | Medical treatment and wage-replacement benefits; can overlap with FMLA/CFRA/ADA |
| Paid Sick Leave (CA + local) | Short-term illness, preventive care, safe time | Nearly all CA employers | Accrual-based; local ordinances may require more than state minimum |
Other leave obligations can also apply, including jury duty, voting time, victims-of-violence leave, bereavement leave, and local paid sick leave ordinances that exceed state minimums.
3. Why These Laws “Stack” on Top of Each Other
A single leave of absence can be covered by more than one law at the same time, and each law measures things differently: how much time counts, how it’s paid, and when it ends. Consider a common example:
Example: An employee is injured off the job and cannot work for several weeks.
This may trigger FMLA and/or CFRA (job protection), short-term, and an ADA/FEHA accommodation conversation if the recovery extends the leave beyond what FMLA/CFRA alone would allow. Employers must also consider any internal policies and be sure they are properly coordinated with leave laws and applied equally to all employees in similar circumstances.
Handled correctly, this employee may be entitled to job-protected leave, a period of disability pay, an accommodation conversation, and continued benefits — running on different, overlapping timelines. Handled incorrectly — for example, by applying only one law’s rules — the employer can unintentionally cut a leave short, deny a benefit the employee was owed, or take an adverse action while the employee was still legally protected. And this is a simple example!
4. Common Pitfalls When Leaves Are Reviewed in Isolation
- Assuming a leave has “run out” under one law without checking whether another law extends job protection or requires an accommodation review.
- Treating a request as one continuous leave when it’s actually intermittent, or vice versa.
- Ending benefits continuation or a return-to-work deadline based on the wrong law’s timeline.
- Not recognizing that a disability-related leave may also require an ADA/FEHA interactive process, separate from FMLA/CFRA.
- Overlooking how a workers’ compensation injury may also qualify for job-protected leave and a reasonable accommodation discussion.
- Making termination or discipline decisions without confirming the employee’s current leave status.
5. Why Individual Review Matters Every Time
Two employees with what looks like the same situation can have completely different legal outcomes. Whether a specific law applies — and how it interacts with the others — depends on factors such as:
- The size of the company and where the employee works
- How long the employee has been employed and hours worked
- The specific reason for the leave (bonding, medical, caregiving, injury, disability)
- Whether the condition may qualify as a disability requiring accommodation
- How much leave, if any, the employee has already used this year
- Whether the leave is continuous, intermittent, or reduced-schedule
Because the answer changes based on these facts, there is no standard template that safely covers every leave request. Each one needs its own review.
6. What This Means for You
Before approving, denying, extending, ending, or taking any action connected to an employee’s leave — including discipline or termination — bring it to our HR team first. We’ll review the specific facts against the laws that apply to your workforce, prepare the appropriate leave packet for the employee, manage the leave through completion, and communicate with you as needed for return to work, additional time off or accommodation requests.
